Was Nephi’s Psalm Really a Psalm?
Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the
things which I have seen and heard. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in
showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my
heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.
The Know:
2 Nephi 4:16–17
2 Nephi 4:16–35, known by many Book of Mormon readers
as “Nephi’s Psalm,”1 expresses Nephi’s personal hopes, joys,
sorrows, and trials. Interestingly, Nephi’s Psalm shares many
parallels, in both style and wording, with psalms of the Old
Testament.2
LDS scholar Matthew Nickerson3 established that Nephi’s
Psalm fit the biblical psalm type termed “individual lament,”
which has five structural units: 1) invocation, 2) complaint, 3)
confession of trust, 4) petition, and 5) vow of praise.4
Invocation: 2 Nephi 4:16-17
Complaint: 2 Nephi 4:17-19
Confession of Trust: 2 Nephi 4:20-30
Petition: 2 Nephi 4:31-33
Vow of Praise: 2 Nephi 4:34-35
LDS scholars Kenneth Alford and D. Bryce Baker have
highlighted similarities in the structure and language of
2 Nephi 4 to wording found in the sequence of Psalms 25
to 31.5 This group of psalms is mostly composed of individual laments and songs of praise and thanksgiving to the
Lord. Some of the shared language includes:
Nephi’s Psalm (2 Nephi 4)
KnoWhy # 30
February 10, 2016
Nephi praying by Robert T. Barrett, via BYU Library
1
Parallel in Psalms 25-31
2 Nephi 4:17, 19
“great goodness of the Lord, in
showing me his great and marvelous
works” … “I know in whom I have
trusted”
Psalm 31:19
“Oh how great is thy goodness
. . . which thou hast wrought for
them that trust in thee.”
2 Nephi 4:17–19
“my soul grieveth because of mine
iniquities” and “my heart groaneth
because of my sins”
Psalm 25:17–18
“The troubles of my heart are enlarged. . . . Look upon mine affliction
and my pain; and forgive all my sins.”
2 Nephi 4:23, 35
“he hath heard my cry” … “I will lift
up my voice unto thee; yea I will cry
unto thee, my God”
Psalm 30:8
“I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto
the Lord I made supplication.”
2 Nephi 4:26
“[the Lord] hath visited men in so
much mercy”
Psalm 25:6
“Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving kindnesses;
for they have been ever of old.”
2 Nephi 4:20, 29
“mine afflictions”
Psalm 25:16
“I am desolate and afflicted”
2 Nephi 4:22, 27, 29–33
“mine enemies”
Psalm 27:11–12
“Lead me in a plain path, because of
mine enemies. Deliver me not over
unto the will of mine enemies.”
2 Nephi 4:28
“Rejoice, O my heart”
Psalm 28:7
“My heart trusted in him, and I am
helped; therefore my heart greatly
rejoiceth.”
2 Nephi 4:31
Psalm 25:20
“O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul?” “O keep my soul, and deliver me.”
One important aspect of the series of Psalms 25 to 31 is their
focus on the themes of temple and covenant.6 According to
Psalms scholar Peter Craigie, Psalms 25 and 28 should be
read in the context of a covenant-making ceremony (see, e.g.
25:10, 14; 28:4, 7). Craigie notes:
and phrases. The fact that the “Psalm of Nephi” borrows so
extensively from a number of different biblical psalms is evidence that Nephi knew and cherished many of the biblical
Psalms, that he joyously used them in his daily life and writing, and that the inspired words of the Scriptures, including
the Psalms, were very dear and comforting to Nephi.
The attitude of trust is the key to the psalmist’s
preparation, for trust signifies dependence and
hope based upon the covenant character of God. He
trusts because God is faithful as the God of the covenant promises; he trusts because those who have
trusted in the past have experienced the presence
and help of God.7
Finally, the fact that Nephi structures his psalm on the pattern of some of those in the Bible that deal with temple and
covenant imagery should indicate to us that the temple is
truly a place of refuge from the storms of our lives and that
there is safety and direction in keeping the covenants that we
make there.
Further Reading
As part of this covenant-making process, the psalmist(s) in
Psalms 25–31 typically does five things:
Kenneth L. Alford and D. Bryce Baker, “Parallels between
Psalms 25–31 and the Psalm of Nephi,” in Ascending the
Mountain of the Lord: Temple, Praise, and Worship in the
Old Testament (2013 Sperry Symposium), ed. Jeffrey R.
Chadwick, Matthew J. Grey, and David Rolph Seely (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013), 312–28.
(1) he recognizes his sins
(2) he pleads for forgiveness so that the covenant curses
come not upon him, but that they fall upon his enemies,
the wicked
(3) he dedicates himself to keeping the covenant/commandments of the Lord
(4) he petitions the Lord to guide him in the right way
(5) he rejoices because of the Lord’s help and thanks/
praises God
John Hilton III, “Old Testament Psalms in the Book of
Mormon,” in Ascending the Mountain of the Lord: Temple, Praise, and Worship in the Old Testament (2013 Sperry
Symposium), ed. Jeffrey R. Chadwick, Matthew J. Grey,
and David Rolph Seely (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret
Book, 2013), 291–311.
Nephi’s Psalm shares all of these covenant-making features.
The preceding is only a small sampling of the many parallels
in structure, language, and themes that are shared between
the Psalm of Nephi and the Psalms of the Old Testament.
It is clear that Nephi had oral or written knowledge of the
wording and style of those biblical psalms (especially those
that may have been contained on the Plates of Brass) and
that he very skillfully utilized this literary knowledge in the
writing of his own poetical and soul-felt composition.
S. Kent Brown, “Nephi’s Psalm,” in Book of Mormon Reference Companion, ed. Dennis Largey (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003), 602–603.
David Bokovoy, “From Distance to Proximity: A Poetic
Function of Enallage in the Hebrew Bible and the Book
of Mormon,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 9, no. 1
(2000): 60–63.
The Why
Readers can draw deep spiritual strength from Nephi’s
Psalm as they relate to the five phases typically present in the
covenant language of the Psalms. People are encouraged to
honestly recognize their sins, shortcomings, and faults, as
Nephi confidently confronted his own challenges and anger. Worshippers then find in Nephi a role model for sincere
pleading with the Lord for forgiveness. They then see Nephi
rededicating himself to his covenants with God, and committing himself to follow the right path. Finally, the faithful
then openly express their joy in gratitude for the goodness
and redemption of the Lord.
John W. Welch, “The Psalm of Nephi as a Post-Lehi Document” Insights: A Window on the Ancient World. (June
1999.)
© Book of Mormon Central, 2016
In this psalm, Nephi shows that he was a skilled author and
a brilliant student of the Scriptures. All of his writings regularly demonstrate his ability to integrate scriptural words
2
NOTES
1. The appellation “Nephi’s Psalm” appears to have been
coined by Sidney Sperry in Sidney B. Sperry, Our Book of
Mormon (Salt Lake City: Stevens & Wallis, 1947), 110–111.
2. Steven Sondrup conducted a study on these verses in order to evaluate their poetical value. He noted that the passage contains structure, rhythm, parallelism, chiasms, verbal
pairings, couplets, triplets, and other features of intentional
poetic structuring. Furthermore, Sondrup concluded that
“logical, formal or conceptual units are set parallel one to
another” as they are in the Hebrew poetry of the Old Testament. See Steven P. Sondrup, “The Psalm of Nephi: A Lyric
Reading,” BYU Studies 21, no. 3 (1981): 357–372. Formatting
added.
5. Kenneth L. Alford and D. Bryce Baker, “Parallels be-
tween Psalms 25–31 and the Psalm of Nephi,” in Ascending
the Mountain of the Lord, 312–328. See also John Hilton III,
“Old Testament Psalms in the Book of Mormon,” in Ascending the Mountain of the Lord: Temple, Praise, and Worship
in the Old Testament (2013 Sperry Symposium), ed. Jeffrey
R. Chadwick, Matthew J. Grey, and David Rolph Seely
(Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young
University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013), 291–311.
6. Although not so much in Psalm 31, these themes are clear
in all of the other psalms in this series.
7. Peter C. Craigie and Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 1–50, World
Biblical Commentary, vol. 19, gen. ed. Bruce M. Metzger,
3. Matthew Nickerson, “Nephi’s Psalm: 2 Nephi 4:16–35 in (Second Edition; Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004), 218.
Light of Form-Critical Analysis,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 6, no. 2 (1997): 26–42, at 30.
4. For examples in the psalms of “individual laments” with
this basic structure, see Psalms 3, 5–7, 9, 12–14, 17, 22, 25, 28,
31, 35, 38, 39, 51, 53-58, 61, 64, 69–71, 77, 83, 86, 88, 102, 109,
130, 139–144.
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